About Me

I was born and raised in Margate on the south east Kent coast. Like most writers, I have loved reading since I was small and creative writing and English were always my favourite classes. I still remember buying little series books about ponies every time I was given some money as a gift then reading the whole thing within a day.

Growing up, I somehow thought I wanted to be a scientist, probably just because my dad worked for a pharmaceutical company, and didn’t think you could do things like writing fiction for a living. But then it dawned on me that I was actually pretty rubbish at science but always getting A’s in English and realised that this was the road I should be going down.

As a teenager, I started writing when I saw my sister doing it. I started out with crummy anime fanfiction and angsty teenage poetry then gradually started writing my own stories and characters. This led to me choosing to study creative writing at university, so after almost 19 years in Margate I moved to Bath to attend Bath Spa University. I loved it there and in addition to honing my craft, I developed an interest in film and media production. I made a few short films whilst at uni, most of which were terrible.

After many many failed attempts to find a ‘proper’ job after graduating, I discovered that my talents lay in copyediting and writing, so now that’s what I do full time (although I now focus exclusively on fiction writing). I now live happily in Liperi in Finland with my husband, who is also a writer and professional artist.

My hobbies include reading, graphic novels, art, museums, cinema, Dungeons & Dragons, photography, and cosplay.

Here are some random facts about me:

Skills not listed on my CV include dressing up as Carrie to hand out flyers, standing next to a sculpture of a giant head and telling people not to touch it, and selling antique tea sets.
My favourite books are Rachel Caine’s Great Library series.
My favourite film is Monty Python and the Holy Grail and my favourite tv series is A Series of Unfortunate Events.
I love heavy metal and my favourite band is Alestorm.
As well as writing, I also study the Finnish language and hope to eventually gain Finnish citizenship.
My husband and I were in a long distance relationship for five years before moving in together.
My favourite painting is Priscilla Jones by Thomas Barker, because she apparently looks like me.